What a Winter

This December sent me for a loop!  This winter really!!  It has snowed SOOOOO much.  In fact up until a few days ago my phone would go off almost every day for a winter weather advisory or winter storm watch (or warning).  Which means Matt, who plows on the side, has been gone plowing a LOT.  He plowed more in December then what he plowed ALL of last year!  The same has followed suit for January.  Needless to say this winter, as much as I love the snow, has been very overwhelming.  Typically he comes home and entertains the kids a bit while I finish up with dinner.  When dinner is done I could get the kitchen cleaned up while he’s got one or both of the girls.  That so hasn’t happened.  Ha!!  The new norm over here is dirty dishes sit in the sink until nap time the next day.  That way the girls get some playtime and bedtime is less hectic.  (Let me tell you that STRESSES ME OUT.  Knowing I have dirty dishes in the sink and all the counters may not have been wiped down.) 

Poor Matt… he’s been getting up at 4 am, plowing, working a normal day at work 8-10 hrs (tag an hour-hour and a half for commute), quick dinner at home, plowing, bed.  No unwind time and very very little time with the girls.

 I am such a planner and not knowing when to “plan” on Matt being home and plan my day accordingly is HARD.  How does a single mother do it!?!?  Being Mom & Dad all day long, all week long, all the time!  Hats off to them…. They are definitely an unsung hero.  It’s exhausting, totally exhausting and I have only played the roll for not even two months. 

This girl has the most beautiful profile!!

Licking her giant lollipop from Christmas!

Zoom zoom!!

The first part of the winter was great!  We were outside almost every day playing in the snow.  Our neighbors have a golf cart that they would hook sleds up to and pull around.  I would be in the kitchen working and see them outside and think if I was younger I would be running for the door to go play!  Glad that we have kids!!  Of course we used Makenzie as an excuse to go for a ride too!  (She did WANT to… but she was very very serious on her ride!)  Even Miss Madison got to come.

In January the temps dropped BIG time.  This past month and a half we really haven’t been outside much.  We have had major wind with wind chills down to -30 degrees and the high temps for the day only reaching the teens.  That’s just not something I am comfortable taking Makenzie out in. Schools have been closed a lot!  At least once a week. Our school district has had 7 or 8 snow days.

On a day we got outside we made an igloo!!

She is 3 foot 4 (for perspective!)

I wouldn’t mind winter sticking around a little longer… and I’m sure it WILL since we have feet of snow on the ground and 4 foot tall snow banks and drifts over 5 feet.  I just want to get OUT in it and PLAY!!!  Maybe some sunshine!  Little warmer temp?  (ARE YOU HEARING THIS, MOTHER NATURE!?!?) We’re pretty much quarantined to the driveway because the snow is so deep elsewhere to walk thru.  Haha!  Our sledding hill Matt made from plowing has turned into a GIANT mountain that is as wide as our house!

As long as I have been around I have never seen a winter like this!!  Curious how long it will be for us to see another winter like this again.

14 Days of Valentine’s & {Date # 1} Dinner at Home

This Valentine’s I thought it would be fun to spread the love out.  So after thinking of some ideas I decided I would do 14 days of Valentine’s for Matt!  I made a list of different “gifts” I could do for Matt and assigned each gift a day.  

These weren’t gifts that I went out and bought (some were, but not all).  Most of these were little favors that I would do to make his day a little easier and show him that he is loved.  What fun this was!  It was a surprise each day to him, he didn’t know what his ‘one thing’ would be that day.  In fact, he didn’t put two and two together until day 7!  Haha!  That boy! 

I love surprising him and doing little things that make him happy and smile.  That just makes it so worth it… especially when some of these were a bit of a pain.  I can tell you I got a thank you 14 days in a row and a smile each day.  I’d say it was a success!

Day 1: Fountain Mountain Dew & Beef sticks from butcher shop.  This one blew him away!!  I can’t even TELL you when the last time I was in a gas station.  I despise them, I think they are totally disgusting and typically stay as far away from them as I can.  You should have seen his face when I brought him a pop from a Gas Station…. His face… totally shocked.  His face wasn’t even that shocked when I told him I was pregnant with either girls!  (LOL, I have a better chance of being pregnant than going to a gas station!!)

Day 2: Made him a nice breakfast & lunch.  He is our breakfast chef and today he got to relax while I had the kitchen duties covered!  (It didn’t turn out as well as his does, he is just that good!)

Day 3: Took the trash out and to the road.  Typically I get all the trash out of the house so it’s waiting for him to put in the dumpster and take to the end of the drive.  Today, on this yucky snowy day, I shoveled my way to the end of the drive, shoveled a spot for the dumpster to sit, and even shoveled the drive :0)

Table for two!!
(FYI, my candle's were uneven... so I had one going for awhile!)

Day 4: Date night at home!  Okay this one almost came to a screeching halt.  I had a friend pick the girls up just before 5 and take them to her house for the night, so when Matt got home they would be gone.  There was a beautiful looking pork/beef roast in the crockpot, potatoes were made, beans were waiting… then I got the call that he was still at work and would be working til 7-7:30.  Yikes!  I have to pick the girls up by 7:30 because Madison goes to bed between then and 8.  Oh boy.  I said ‘Not sure that’s going to work… see if you can get out sooner, girls are gone, surprise!  Date night at home, I have a great dinner already made and waiting!’  Go figure right!?!?  Turned out great.  I got some time ALONE!!!  I jammed to some music and Matt came home an hour or so later. 

Day 5: Back Massage!  Almost 40 mins… my thumbs hurt!  Haha!

Day6:  Treated to an Ice Cream Sundae with chocolate sauce, sprinkles, peanuts & cool whip!

Day7: Made a special lunch for him to take to work.

Day 8: Helped him take down all his tree stands on his hunting properties!  Whew, what a task that was!!  Walking thru snow that was above my knees and hauling these big tree stands.  It was in the teens but we were sweating!

Day 9: Cleaned out the coffee pot and got it loaded and ready for today’s coffee!

Day 10: Pedicure!  Yup I said pedicure!  After the girls went to bed, I filled our bubbling water bath with nice hot water and let those giant feet soak!  Then I continued on with the pedicure and did it all but painted the boys nails ;-)  He was almost asleep by time I was done.  Guess that was relaxing!! 

Day 11: Valentine’s Day cookies!  The girls and I made Matthew some sugar cookies that maybe didn’t turn out so good.  Ha.  But boy did we have fun making them!  Miss Madison was really impressed with everything her big sister got to do!

Playing!  Who get's the measuring cup!?!?

Ok, Makenzie's done playing... back off Miss Madi!

This just makes me laugh!  My little chefs!!

They looked great!!
Then they baked and um... yeah, didn't go so well!

Day 12: Set his clothes out for the morning in the bathroom, packed his lunch & breakfast, poured his coffee into his coffee mug and went out and started the car for him!  Haha, he made me laugh SO HARD.  He goes to his coffee… grunts… holds his coffee in front of him at eye level and says “What the?”.  He was wondering why there was only a little bit of coffee left in the pot.  Well, I had already poured it and it was waiting in his mug for him!!  Haha!

Day 13: Cinnamon Rolls!  The kind that take ALL day to make.  Rising, kneading, rising, baking!  Perfect sweet for my sweetie’s breakfast!

Rolling up the cinnamon roll!

Day 14: Happy Valentine’s Day!  We didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary.  He did surprise me with a gift certificate for a pedicure :-D  And my one thing for him was ear buds, so he could listen to music at work on his computer.

Seriously, this was fun!!  My plans got screwed up just a few times where I had to improvise and switch days, but overall I sure had fun doing it.  He does SO much for us and has been SO busy between work and plowing I was happy to give him 14 days of something nice being done for him. 

After doing this I think that it would be fun to do sporadically throughout the year!  Anyone with me?!  Maybe for an anniversary??  Birthday??  Or why not just because!!  I challenge you to find someone to do this to this year!

Continuing Christmas... STILL!!

Christmas, late afternoon, we headed over to Matt’s parents house for our Christmas celebration there.  We wanted to make it short and sweet… we just weren’t feeling all that well.

We pulled into the drive and could just smell goodness!!  Matt’s mom puts on a FEAST for us.  The food is always great, table is set and decorated with a ridiculous amount of place settings to fit us all around.  We just keep getting cozier!  The Christmas tree sat in the corner with loads of presents stuffed underneath it.

Once we all showed up Grandma & Grandpa gathered all the grandkids around them and the tree to read them the real Christmas story. 

So sweet, Makenzie and Joshua got nice and comfy on the chair together.

Yes, that's Makenzie to the right totally comfy on the chair!
(And yes, partner in crime Joshua aka Fa-fa is next to her!)

Then things got a little crazy.  Wrapping paper started flying!  And things got noisy!!!  LOUD!  (What else do you expect with 7 Grandkids?)

Makenzie opening one of her many puzzles!

The grandkids checking out Grandma's annual family calendar!

Someone's excited about his fire truck!!

Two cuties in plaid!  Zman just got his first automobile :0)

Thankful picture sign we made.

Makenzie helping Pops open one of the gifts she made him.

Welcome to Pop's cottage with Madison's hand prints as deer
and Makenzie's hand prints as a pine tree!

Little project that Makenzie headed up!  She picked out a wooden heart
from Hobby Lobby, said she wanted to make it for Pops.  She paints it
then said she wanted deer on there.  So we used her finger prints to make
two deer.  "One is me and one is Pops!"  Too cute.

Uncle Dave is ready to eat!!! He's almost got the whole turkey in front of him!!  Happy man!

After we did gifts we moved on to the dinner and left soon afterwards...  Matt and I were done.  We did good the first half but after awhile our nasty sore throats came back.  The ride home was silent!  Haha.  We got home and ALL went to bed :-) 

I need to get better at taking pictures at the gifts we get!!  Makenzie got… puzzle cube, puzzle box w/ 4 different puzzles (THAT SHE PLAYS WITH ALLLLLLLL THE TIME!), magnetic dress up doll, Dr Seuss book.  Most of Makenzie’s toys that she got for Christmas were Melissa & Doug toys… LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

Madison got… sippy cups, plates, spoons, touch & feel book, ball, cozy outfit.

Thankfully with how sick the three of us got, Madison never got the nasty-ness of it.  There were a few days where she had mild symptoms similar to what we had, but she never got the fever, or was never down and out!!  I tell ya I swear by breast feeding!!  I bet if I wasn’t nursing her and she wasn’t getting the antibodies from me she would have gotten it.  That really would have been the icing on the cake.  We also skipped another Christmas party and church that weekend so we kept all our germs to ourselves and didn’t catch any others.  Hate it when sickness is in the house with a baby. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happily getting smooched on by Mama & Makenzie!

Today is the day to go smooch crazy!!  

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Snuggles & Shopping

Yesterday AM we had a combined church service that started earlier and lasted longer.  It was a great service but boy does that jack things up with a baby.  Typically she has already had her AM nap by time we get to church, that didn't happen... and IT was loud and packed and we got seats in the front... see where this is going?  We were up and down the whole service.  That was us Sunday AM, that annoying couple that just should have sat in the back of the church but sat in the very front :-)

Madison didn't nap and came home hungry and tired.  She didn't hardly want anything to do with her cereal, so I nursed her and put her down for a nap.  Yikes... that didn't work.  After some snuggles on the couch she was out.  I handed her off to Matt to get some housework done and this is how he spent his afternoon:

Precious, huh!?












Today is, or was, grocery shopping day!! Woot woot!  As with any other grocery shopping day here it has been VERY cold (17 degrees today), windy and snowy.  Which makes for sucky trips from the store to the truck with an overflowing cart, baby in a carseat and a few inches of slush or snow you are trying to push thru.  Of course my boots are totally just for show (they do keep my feet warm tho) and have zip for tread so half the time my feet are definitely not where they are suppose to be and I am seconds away from belly-flopping into the mess.

This little cutie patootie was my shopping buddy today!  She would peek out of her little nest, give me a few smiles, and hold my list for me.  So sweet.  Had a little heart failure when I looked at her and my list was gone!!  At that point I had only been to one store and had a decent list for the next store.  Where did I find it??  She had it all snuggled in with her, holding on to it for dear life!  Guess I don't have to worry about her losing my list.  My last shopping trip Madison went plowing with Matt and I had Makenzie.  Loved it.  We certainly don't get too much one on one time and it sure is great when we do, even if we are at a store!  (Not to mention having only one child to keep an eye on while shopping is wonderful!)

Makenzie asked to go to Great Grandma's & Poppa's house... I gladly took her over to entertain them for awhile!  Like I said earlier... taking only one to the store... especially since she is corralled... is great! 

At LEAST 4 foot snow banks at Grandma & Grandpa's!!

{Date # 2} Our Day Date

We certainly don’t get enough just “us” time.  Getting out twice a year just isn’t enough, so this year I am making it my goal to make sure we have a date of some sort once a month.  It didn’t happen in January, but a few nights ago we had a date night “IN” that I’m counting that as our January date.  I have a big list of different dates that we will spend the year checking off!!  Here goes Date #2....

I spent the day, Saturday, on a date with the hubby convincing him that a day date can be just as fun as the typical evening date.  Doesn’t that just get old?  We rarely go out, but when we do, we go out for dinner, it’s packed, so much is going on you get lost in what is going on around you and the focus isn’t on us.  There are so many distractions and when we don’t get much time to ourselves that bugs me!  

At lunch time we headed out to a little café that had some super yummy grilled burgers, a delicious sun dried tomato and artichoke soup (SO need to find a recipe for that) and their fries… oh yum.  It was messy and OH SO GOOD!  It was quiet, we sat in a corner booth right next to each other… no distractions.  (Besides the guy that kind of looked like my uncle Bob except with a mullet! Haha!)

After running a few errands (which we won’t do during a date again… ek… someone got grumpy), we bundled up and headed out to the woods where Matt hunted.  He had needed to take down some tree stands and a winter walk with him sounded wonderful.  When we got there we noticed that the field had a mostly plowed path and we headed down.  Into the woods we went, 13 degrees out and snow falling, loved it.

What a work out that was!  Snow went up past my knees.  One spot that he had a tree stand was in a valley.  It was STEEP getting down to the bottom.  We ended up sitting on our butts to see if we could just slide down and ZOOM!  I went flying down the hill after Matt.  Holy cow I didn’t expect that since Matt was hardly moving… my snow pants sent me sailing!

FUN.

We hopped back into the truck to head back across the field and what happens??  Oh yes.  We get stuck!  Haha!  The path that we came in on wasn’t exactly wide enough for us to make the turn to get back thru.  So Matt grabbed the shovel and started digging…

These snow banks were up to Matt’s waist… not sure how tall his waist is, but at 6’5 it’s up there!

Eventually we made it out :-)  Pedal to the metal and soon we were finishing our ride thru the field. 

FUN.

One good thing about a day date... it can last MUCH longer than a night time date!!  

BTW… today is my Grandpa’s Birthday!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!  We love you! (This post was written Saturday)  Haha!!  Looks like we had too many candles on that cake... all I see is brightness :-)